


Something Wonderful

by Maliam (orphan_account)



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Love Confessions, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 16:49:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3297509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Maliam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nyota and Jim were friends. It didn't matter that they only called each other by last name, or that they had once hated each others guts. It didn't matter that Nyota was the most beautiful woman Jim had ever seen or that Jim was the best captain she had ever talked to. The only thing that mattered was that they were friends. Well, and maybe something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Wonderful

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shiptoomuch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/gifts).



> for my brife.  
> bro wife for life <3

Surprisingly, Nyota didn’t mind working as Kirk’s communication officer. After the entire Nero disaster then Khan, Nyota found it easy to work for him. He never treated her as if she was less than because she was a woman or colored. Nor was she treated as if she was just the girl who ‘ _answered the phones_ ’. It was obvious that he was aware that without her, _The Enterprise_ would be a dead ship. It helped that Kirk was kind to her as well. When Spock and Nyota decided to break off their relationship, he offered her a week off. She didn’t take it, of course; Spock and her broke it off mutually so there was no need to hide. But the thought warmed her heart. Nyota would even say that under his command, she grew closer to Kirk and began to care for him as a friend despite not calling him anything but his last name.

They grew close enough that they had begun to hang around each other in the rec room and visited each other on shore leave. One might even say that they were close enough that they exchanged gifts on their birthdays. Or… at least that was what Kirk thought.

“Oh… Kirk, you…” Nyota stuttered as he presented her with a carefully wrapped little box. It was so small that it was probably just credits considering how Kirk didn’t ask her for what she wanted. He gave every friend of his credits for their birthday because he didn’t have the time to search for gifts. Running Starfleet’s flagship was a full time job for Kirk and allowed little down time.

He held up his hand to stop her from talking. “Don’t say I didn’t have to, Uhura. We’re friends, friends give each other birthday gifts.” Nyota thought back to Kirk’s birthday and how she gave him a hug and a quick kiss to the cheek. Her cheeks burned a littler harder and Nyota thanked her dark skin for hiding her blush. Kirk would never let her live it down if he saw her blush. He must have known how embarrassed she felt though, because he shrugged his shoulders. “Uhura, that was a while ago, we weren’t as close as we are now.” Apparently, they had even got close enough to know what the other was thinking.

She wanted to believe him, of course, but she knew very well that she wasn’t planning to get him any present for his next birthday. It wasn’t as if she was being mean, she really wasn’t trying to be. Nyota only got gifts for the people she held dear to her heart. The only gifts she gave this year were to her mother and Galia. Kirk nudged her, prompting her to take the gift in her hand.

“Open it. Come on, I wanna see your face.” Kirk said, nudging her again. Nyota rolled her eyes but followed his directions anyways. Why he would want to see her open credits she didn’t-

_Oh god._

In the box sat the most beautiful crystal she had ever seen. It glittered gold in the light and the colors within it always flickered and changed. At the moment it was a flickering red with dippings of purple. There was a small hole drilled into the smallest part of the rock. A piece of leather string was pushed through it to make it a necklace. It was… It was beautiful. But she had seen it before. On the planet they had explored _six months ago._ Nyota’s hand clasped her mouth to keep herself from gasping out loud.

“Shit… You don’t like it? I knew I should have stuck with credits. Here, I’ll-” Before Kirk could even grab it from her hands Nyota swept it against her chest protectively. Kirk stared at her. “So… you like it?”

Nyota flung herself forward and wrapped her free arm around Kirk’s neck. “It’s beautiful thank you so much.”

Kirk laughed at her, his arms reaching around to circle her waist. Pulling her tight against him, Kirk pressed his face against her neck. Against her he let out a breath that he had been keeping locked in. Nyota’s heart twisted; he must have been really worried she would have hated it. Kirk’s head nodded into her neck. “You were looking at all the crystals on the planet when we were down there. I thought you would like it.”

She squeezed her arm around his neck before pulling away. “I love it. Help me put it on?” Nyota held out the small box, which was partially crushed with how hard she gripped it against her body. Kirk nodded and grabbed the necklace. Conveniently, the leather was untied at the ends so it could be adjusted how Nyota wanted it. She turned around and lifted up her hair so it was out of the way. The stone gently laid against her chest as Kirk adjusted the string behind her.

“Is this good?” He asked. She smiled as she looked down a bit. She could see the colorful rock swirling against her dark skin. Nyota nodded and there was a slight few tugs before it stopped. “Alright, all good.”

Nyota dropped her hair and turned back around to show Kirk the necklace. “What do you think?” She asked. Without a mirror in the hallway, she needed an opinion on how it looked on her. Certain colors didn’t look good against her skin so the changing of the colors within the rock might cause her too look odd.

He let out a huge smile. “Gorgeous. Let’s get back to the party, yeah?”

His hand circled her waist and led her back into the rec room. When they walked in, the room cheered. Most of the crew had come down for the party, except for the ones that needed to stay at their post. Galia ran up to her and dragged her away from Kirk to do shots. Through the party, Nyota laughed and danced with her friends but she couldn’t help but look over where Kirk was sitting with Dr. Mccoy. He’d look up at her every once in a while, catching her staring. When Kirk would catch her, he’d only smile and wave before looking away again. Nyota couldn’t stop grabbing at the necklace that hung from her neck either. Kirk had gotten her a birthday present _six months ago_. He had seen the way she looked at the rocks on the planet and grabbed one for her birthday that wasn’t until six months later. They were barely even saying hi to each other in the rec room six months ago. You don’t just get somebody a birthday present six months in advance… unless…. No. Kirk couldn’t like her. Sure, there was that time back on earth, but he wasn’t even in starfleet and Nyota had made it very clear that she wasn’t interested in him. He couldn’t have been nursing a crush on her for this long. Not Kirk. He would have done something… right?

But it was too late and she had drunk too much to be thinking about something like this.

She rubbed her head roughly as the communication panel caught another transmission. All the drinking last night had caused Nyota to be a little more hungover than she planned to be. She really needed a hypo from Dr. Mccoy right now. A hand pressed into her shoulder; Nyota jumped slightly, head turning quickly to try and see who grabbed her. Of course it was Kirk, he was smiling at her with amusement on his face. Stupid captain, it was rude to take enjoyment in someones pain.

“I told you to take the day off, Uhura.” Kirk said. Nyota narrowed her eyes at her Captain. He had told her to, multiple times, he almost threatened to not let her on the bridge. But then she gave him her death glare and he grudgingly allowed her to work.

“And I told you I could handle it.” Nyota grumbled. And she could…. With a hypo and two bottles of advil.

He rolled his eyes at her. “Go to Bones, he’ll give you the good stuff. And I’m locking the bridge so don’t even think about coming back here.” The look he was giving her said that no matter how much she gave him the death glare, he wasn’t allowing her to stay.

“Kirk, I can’t just leave.” Nyota said.

Lieutenant Palmer walked up beside Kirk. “I got it, Ny, you go. Birthday hangovers are killer.” Lucy Palmer smiled widely at her hangover stricken friend.

She tilted her head to the side, “Oh no, Lucy, I can’t do that to you, you were supposed to have a call today with your son.”

Lucy shrugged her shoulders, “Alex is a big boy, he’ll understand. I can call him tomorrow.” Nyota smiled and got up to hug Lucy. Lucy was the second best communications officer on _The Enterprise_ and they got along extremely well.

“I’ll cover your next shift.” Nyota promised to her friend as they pulled apart from each other. Lucy rolled her eyes and took Nyota’s seat at the communications terminal. She held out her hand for the communication earpiece that almost felt like another body part to Nyota. “I’m serious here, Lucy.”

“I know you are, doll, now you go get that hypo and extra strength meds.” Lucy said while putting on the communication earpiece. She turned in her seat and started fiddling with the controls to lock in on the transmission that had caused Nyota to wince.

With one last sigh, Nyota turned and walked to the elevator. Kirk walked beside her and watched as she walked into the elevator. “Thanks, Kirk.”

He smiled at her. “Anything for you, Uhura. Get some rest.”

She mock saluted Kirk with a smile on her face as the doors closed. _Anything for you._ Perhaps that was a joke at the moment but Nyota knew that there was a lot of things he would do for her. He thought highly of her, they were friends after all, but she was pretty sure it was just a joke. But lately everything seems to be turning upside down. If what she thought last night was true, well, Nyota didn’t know what to do with that. Kirk liking her… it seemed weird to even think about it. But not down right disgusting. It didn’t make sense, though. Kirk had always acted on his interests. If he thought a living being was attractive, he would tell them and see if it went anywhere. She couldn’t even count the amount of times that she had seen Kirk slink out of a bar with an alien or two in tow. So if he liked her, why didn’t he pursue her? Of course, it could be just because he had already, but he’d chased after old flames before. When Galia was first stationed on the ship, they were in bed faster than you could say hello.

Then maybe it was because of their positions on the ship? Nyota shook her head as she stepped out of the elevator. No, that was stupid, Galia was in a way lower position, if anything it was safer for Nyota and Kirk to get together than Galia and him. So what was stopping Kirk from going after her?

Nyota walked into med-bay, her head throbbing more than it had been when she left the bridge. She was beginning to think that her headache was less from the hangover and more from the thinking she has been doing. Leonard looked up from an engineer who had burnt his hand.

“I guess Jim forced you down here, Nyota?” Leonard asked. He looked back to the engineer’s hands to spray a medicine on it. With a quick pat, Leonard sent the engineer to  Nurse Chapel. Nyota smiled widely at Leonard. They were friends with each other. Not as close as Nyota was with Kirk but close enough to call each other by their first names. Of course, she and Kirk didn’t call each other by their first names, but that was different.

“Yeah, locked me out of the bridge too.”

Leonard rolled his eyes, “Yeah he does that when…” The doctor tilted his head to the side. “Nevermind. Come here, I’ll give you a hypo.”

She followed the doctor through the doors into his office. Nyota narrowed her eyes at Leonard. He was probably hoping she didn’t notice that he didn’t finish that sentence. Of course, he should have known that Nyota would have noticed it. Leonard grabbed a hypo from his desk drawer and motioned for Nyota to come sit in the extra chair he had in his office. She sat down and stretched her neck for him. Leonard grumbled something under his breath before sticking the Hypo in her neck.

“So Kirk does that when what?” Nyota asked, pushing her hair back in front of her neck. Leonard turned around to avoid Nyota’s gaze as well as to drop the hypo into the hazardous bin.

He shrugged his shoulders. “When you’re friends with him. He just likes taking care of his friends.”

“He doesn’t take care of you…. or Spock.” Nyota observed. Of course, if Kirk tried, he didn’t think that Spock would let him. _You are being quite illogical captain, I do not require your aid at this moment._ Nyota tried not to laugh at the thought.

“Spock’s different. Or, I guess, you’re different. Just… Different friendship, yeah.” Leonard sighed and turned back around. “I’m not making sense… which is probably a good thing.”

She rolled her eyes at the doctor. He let himself fall into his desk chair and watched Nyota across the desk. “What did Kirk get you for your birthday, Leonard?” Nyota asked. This question should clear things up. If Kirk got Leonard a present like he got Nyota’s, then obviously it would mean that Kirk just put her on the same level as Leonard. Of course, that was slightly unnerving because that would mean Kirk held her in very high regard. It would be better than Kirk having a crush on her, though, because if he did then Nyota would have no idea what to do with that. It wasn’t like it was a horrifying thought but… It wasn’t exactly a fantasy she thought about daily.

“Just some credits and bourbon.” Leonard asked. Nyota tried not to let her eyes widen too much. That… wasn’t good. Well, not bad, but, not good. Her hand reached up to grab the necklace that was dangling from her neck. She had watched the colors change all night, trying to think about what this present meant. Now she knew. “Why you asking, Nyota?”

Nyota opened her mouth but closed it and frowned. This didn’t make any sense. Why hadn’t Kirk pursued her if he liked her? “Leonard, does Kirk like me?” Leonard’s cheeks turned a little pink and he opened his mouth to speak but Nyota shook her head, “And don’t say ‘ _Of course he does you’re his friend_ ’, you know what I mean.”

Leonard sighed and ran his hand through his hair, “Nyota, I shouldn’t be the one talking to you about this. Why don’t you ask Jim?”

“Because he lies. A lot. At least I know you’ll be truthful. Now answer the question.” She demanded. Leonard shook his head. She pushed herself out of her chair to go closer to Leonard when Spock walked into the office. His cheeks were flushed with a slight green as he looked at Leonard. Nyota could have almost swore she saw a slight smile on his face. She coughed quickly to let Spock know that she was in the office too. Spock’s head flicked to Nyota and he straightened his back.

“Good morning, Nyota.” Spock said quickly. His cheeks were still colored slightly green but Nyota thought that maybe it was because of an entirely different reason now.

“An especially good morning today, I suppose.” Nyota said, trying her hardest not to waggle her eyebrows at the doctor and Spock. No wonder they had been acting weirdly when they were on the bridge together. Spock looked away from Nyota to the ground, shifting his weight ever so slightly. A nervous habit of his that only she noticed. When you dated a Vulcan you had to be a lot more observant to their physical cues of emotions.

“It was nice seeing you, Nyota, but you should go rest. Come on, out you go.” Leonard said, getting up to shoo her out. Nyota laughed and rolled her eyes but walked out of the office anyways.

She turned around just as Leonard was shutting the door again, “Have fun.”

Leonard’s face flushed a deep red before he slammed the door closed in her face. Nyota laughed even louder but left Medbay. Well, that was interesting. She had to tell Kirk about this. She frowned slightly. Tell Kirk about it… why was he the first person she thought of? She could have thought about telling this to Galia, or Sulu, or Chekov but the first person she thought of was Kirk. Nyota pursed her lips. Leonard never got the chance to confirm if Kirk liked her or not. It wasn’t like it wasn’t true, Nyota was almost positive that he did have a crush on her. But nothing was adding up.

Unless it was a serious crush. Like the _I would die for you_ crush. Like the _I would face an alien army and sacrifice everything I have ever worked for to save you_ crush. Like the exact same thing Kirk did seventh months ago when an away mission went wrong.

 _Shit_.

Nyota almost ran to Kirk’s quarters. He wouldn’t be off his shift yet but she sure as hell was going to wait until he was. A serious crush. she couldn’t believe it. Kirk didn’t have really crushes, he didn’t usually feel anything besides physical attraction. She was actually beginning to think he was Aromantic. But if he had a serious crush on Nyota that meant that he actually could feel romantic attraction. That meant that he actually cared about her a lot. Nyota put in her override code when she got to the door of Kirk’s quarters. She had made sure she had one to his quarters because last time she was locked out of there was when it was the anniversary of Tarsus iv. Nyota got so furious she had hacked her way into the system and only made the door open for her.

Pacing around the room while thinking, Nyota waited for Kirk. She didn’t know what to say or what she wanted. All she knew is that she needed to talk to Kirk.

Kirk walked into the room and saw Nyota pacing across the room. He stopped and opened his mouth to speak but Nyota was already walking up to him. She poked his chest strongly. “You like me.”

What she said, apparently, was funny, because Kirk chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Ah, yeah, that’s sort of what being friends means.”

Nyota groaned and shoved his shoulder. He laughed even more at her annoyance but she could hear the uncertainty in his laugh; the _please don’t make me say it out loud_. He was terrified. Absolutely terrified because she knew how he actually felt about her. “Honestly, you gave Leonard Bourbon and credits for his birthday, you thought I wouldn’t find out from you giving me something personal?”

His lips twisted and he shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about this but she was going to make him. She didn’t exactly know what she wanted from this talk but leaving Kirk alone to simmer in this attraction wasn’t fair. hopefully if she could Talk to him about it she would be able to solve the problem. Whether she was going to reject or accept his affections was the real question. Kirk walked away to the other side of the room to pour himself a glass of alcohol. Nyota had to quickly run over him to stop his hand from pouring himself a drink. He always drank when he was nervous, or unsure, or awkward. She needed to reassure him that he didn’t have to be scared about this talk. No matter how it ended she knew that she wasn’t just going to abandon the friendship she spent so long building.

“Kirk, talk to me.” Nyota begged. She forced herself in front of him so he couldn’t run away.

“What if I don’t want to?” Kirk asked, his eyes never landing on hers. He looked over at the door, to the ground, at her hands, but never once did his eyes reach her face.

Nyota huffed and grabbed his face. She forced him to look at her by pushing his face up so their eyes met. “Kirk, listen to me right now. We have to talk about this.”

He pushed away from her, getting agitated. “No, no, we don’t. Listen, I can handle it, it’s not a big deal, I’m fine.” He turned and walked away from her again. Nyota sighed and allowed him to put distance between them. As much as he liked to say that he could handle his emotions well and hide them, Nyota could read him like a book. The more distance he put between someone and himself, the more he was trying to hide what he was feeling.

“Would you just stop trying to run away for one second, Kirk? Why do you automatically think that this conversation is going to go bad?”

"Because... fuck, Nyota, why do you think? You have never shown any attraction to me in all these years we've known each other. There is not a single piece of evidence to suggest that you are even attracted to me sexually much less anything else!" Kirk growled at her. He still wasn't looking at her and was starting to put away his chess set. He never put away the set because every time he did, he would only have to take it out a while later. Spock challenged Kirk to chess almost every chance he got because he was determined to beat him. It's not about winning, Nyota, it is about bettering my strategy. Bullshit, she always thought, Spock just didn't like being beat at something.

She threw her hands up in the air from annoyance. Trying to make Kirk talk about something was like attempting to cuddle a cactus.  "Well you haven't exactly tried to woo me Kirk!”

He scoffed and shook his head. “Like you would have even responded to me.” He paused in putting away the last chess piece of the board. The queen twirled in his fingertips as he stared at it. There was a small tug on Nyota’s heart as she watched him. Would she have responded to him? Or would she have laughed?

Nyota’s fists clenched. “Well what if I would have? Did you ever think of that?”

“You and I both know that you wouldn’t have, Uhura. Don’t.” Kirk said. His voice had gone cold. Terrified and scared, Kirk was desperately trying to distance himself from Nyota but she wasn’t letting him. The last resort was to try and pretend like he didn’t care but it was already too late for that. Kirk was trapped and he knew it. Resignation was clear in his voice as well as annoyance. It was going to take a while for Kirk to forgive her after this. Nyota moved away from the table of alcohol to Kirk.

Her hand covered Kirk’s, stilling the queen twirling in his fingertips. He looked up at her, his face vulnerable and pained. It occurred to Nyota that Kirk had never been forced to talk about his feelings. This would be the first time he had ever been forced to confront his heart without running away.

Caressing his face carefully, Nyota looked into his eyes. A quick breath was sucked in by Kirk but he pressed his face into her hand. “Do you know what you’re doing, Nyota?”

Her heart jumped at Kirk using her first name. She hadn’t realized how much she craved it until now. A smile curled up to her lips and she shook her head. “No. But you jump in blind all the time. It shouldn’t be that bad if I have you with me, James.” Taking the last dive, Nyota allowed herself to move forward and press her lips to Kirk’s.

He sighed into the kiss, giving her absolutely everything he had. She curled her hand around his neck, pulling him tight against her. It felt beautiful, and sweet, and hot, but above all it felt right. Nyota pulled away and dropped her head to Kirk’s shoulder, giggling.

“What’s funny?” He asked.

“Spock and Mccoy are fucking.”

“I fucking knew it!” Kirk screamed happily. Nyota laughed as she watched Kirk run out from his quarters towards medbay. Yeah… this might actually be something wonderful.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> every single comment, kudos, subscribe, and bookmark is appreciated darlings!


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